1. Field of the Invention
The present invention pertains to wound management. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a wound management system that employs reduced pressure to remove wound exudate and a dressing that will contain and isolate the wound where the dressing must remain on the wound for a prolonged period of time.
2. Description of Related Art
The recent protracted combat operations of the U.S. Armed Forces in both Afghanistan and Iraq have been remarkable in the comparatively low level of fatalities compared to other conflict involving U.S. Armed Forces, such as the combat operations in Viet Nam. The reason for the comparatively low level of fatalities is because of the dramatic improvements that have been made in protective body armor and medical care. Significant improvements have been made to procedures and techniques for stabilizing and removing injured personnel from the battlefield to a facility where medical care may be administered by personnel with proper equipment. While there has been a dramatic decrease in the loss of life, there also has been a corresponding increase in the number of service members wounded. As in many combat situations, a frequent injury to those in ground combat operations is a deep, traumatic wound. Many military trauma wounds are inherently contaminated and can become severely infected because of prolonged contact with the ground on the battlefield or lengthy periods without treatment. Field medics are taught how to irrigate and/or clean deep wounds and then cover the wound with some type of wound dressing. The wound dressing performs several functions. A dressing often includes a powder, an ointment, or a salve, which may kill some of the toxic bacteria that have entered the wound. Second, the dressing covers the wound to help prevent entry of additional toxic bacteria. Third, the dressing decreases the chance of cross-contaminating other wounds on a patient's body. Fourth, the dressing absorbs fluids or exudate from the wound.
When wounds are large or deep, however, several treatment problems arise. Because medical evacuation routes can extend thousands of miles, it is not uncommon for wounded soldiers to experience several days in the medical evacuation process. While wounded personnel are in transport, it is generally not possible to provide the type of wound treatment care available in a hospital. A gauze dressing may not have sufficient fluid retention capacity to adequately absorb all of the exudate from some wounds, and so may become saturated with exudate. Saturated dressings may not be easily exchanged for non-saturated dressings during medical evacuation and transport by aircraft or ground/water transport vehicles. A typical mounting arrangement in medical transport/evacuation vehicles involves stacking patient gurneys three or four high, often against a wall or bulkhead. Such stacking of gurneys may limit access to exudating wounds of those patients on the gurneys such that medical personnel often cannot readily tend to dressings or any other equipment used to protect wounds.
During all parts of the medical evacuation process, there is a need to provide wound exudate management and wound isolation with the wound contained in a closed protective environment. Further, there is a need to remove and isolate wound exudate so that the wound exudate, a biohazardous material, can be collected and properly discarded. Such removal and isolation of wound exudate will reduce cross-contamination, reduce the risk of infection, and facilitate effective wound management during the transport of injured soldiers. There is a need to provide a system that is compact so that it may be easily carried and is not dependent on any external source of energy for operation. Finally, there is a need to provide a system that will be U.S. Military Flight Certified, a non-capital level asset, and disposable.